There is no further information regarding switching from the HAL requirement, but those users on Linux that install the HAL package can still use Flash and view protected content.

As far as Slackware 14.0 (re: ecforum's post), according to my research, Slackware version 12.0 contained HAL. Since I don't use Slackware personally, I can only assume now that HAL was removed from 14.0.

Believe it or not, we are Linux users too - and we continue to use Linux - so we understand the frustration of having to install this deprecated HAL package on newer distros of Linux, but for now it's necessary.

It is now March 14, 2014. There has been no progress on this issue in a year and a half. HAL is not coming back. Functions have been merged into UDEV. If the functions needed are there now, why has Adobe not updated Flash to use UDEV instead of HAL? There has to be some way of allowing Linux users to view DRM restricted (I won't say protected as it is only a restriction to those of us who want to do things legally.) materials?

Also, I am requesting that Adobe reevaluate the decision to eliminate updates for the Flash player for Linux. While I appreciate the security updates, they are proving inadequate as content steamers such as Amazon use features of newer versions of the Flash player. If the Flash player for the Chrome browser can be up-to-date (currently 12.0), why can't the Flash player for Linux, both i686 and x86_64, be updated instead of being frozen at 11.2?

Is Adobe being paid by some organization to prevent any real updates to the Linux Flash player? It sure seems that way.